TERRI AND JOXX

                            by

                         Joe Doe


MY VERY TARDY RESPONSE TO THE POSER PICTURES JOXX POSTED IN THE OLD GROUP.  



"Hello, may I help you?" the secretary's voice said.

"I'm holding for Miss London."

"Yes, of course.  She'll be with you in a moment.  Could you please 
hold?"

"I've been holding for ten minutes," Joxx replied.

"Yes, of course you have," the snippy secretary replied.  "Just one 
moment more, please.  Miss London is a very busy, important, and 
influential person."

Jox's reply was cut short as the secretary's voice disappeared and 
the elevator music started again.  Life was short, and Joxx was on 
hold....

"Hello, this is Terri London," a voice finally said.  "How may I 
help you?"

"I'm not sure," Joxx admitted.  "You called me, or your secretary 
did.  Then she put me on hold."

"Of course she did," Terri replied condescendingly.  "I'm far too 
busy, influential, and important to dial my own phone."

"So I've been told...repeatedly," he said.  "But I assume you had 
some reason for calling me and keeping me on hold?"

"I think it's vital, before we start, that you understand how 
important I am," she explained.  "I've won two Pulitzers.  
I've got a corner office at my paper.  I'm pals with Oprah."

"I'm awestruck," he replied.  "Why did you call?"

"It was about those pictures you drew for that...group," Terri 
said.  "The illustrations for the Joe Doe stories."

"Ah, yes," he said.  "Did you like them?"

"Yes, I did," she admitted.  "You're extremely talented.  It's a 
pity the subject matter isn't more...elevated.  The night I dined 
at the White House, perhaps, or the day I won the Clare Booth Luce 
Award.  However, that was your artistic choice, and I respect that. 
I practically invented the First Amendment."

"What did you like about the pictures?" Joxx asked.

"The sense of anticipation on that poor girl's face," she said.  
"That office is such a dreadful place.  There's one shot where 
that girl's feet are scrunched up on the cold tile floor -– the 
floor was freezing!  Um...I mean...so I've been told."

"Of course."

"I mean...how else would I know if the floor was cold?" she said 
defensively.  "It's not like there would be any reason for me to 
be traipsing around the Sheriff's office barefoot."  

"I understand.  What else?"

"It was such a horrible place, so clinical.  They really made the 
stripping feel routine, like stripping those poor girls naked was 
some sort of dreadfully boring bureaucratic procedure that they 
couldn't hardly be bothered with.  And you did a really nice job 
of capturing those awful, piggish, lip-smacking men in the window.  
I hated them, the way they looked at me...I mean...the other girls, 
of course."

"Of course," Joxx replied diplomatically.  "Any questions?"

"Of course.  I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter -– twice, 
although I hate to brag.  What was on the clipboard hanging 
on the wall?  What was in the glass area to the girl's right?  
Was it the shower area?  I really think you should post a 
message to the group and let people know what you were thinking, 
since I've been wondering, and I think others might be, too."

"I'll definitely consider it.  Any suggestions?"

"I did notice the table was pointing the wrong way.  It should have 
been facing the window."

"It WAS facing the window," Joxx said.

"No, the other way."  Her voice cracked with anger.  "Pointed 
TOWARDS the window.  Those men were awful, filthy pigs -– they 
all want to do the most disgusting things.  When they put me 
in the stirrups, those perverts got to see everything!"

"When they put YOU in the stirrups?" Joxx said, chuckling.  "Are 
you saying the Sheriff arrested YOU?"

"I know what you're doing -– you're trying to imply that they 
arrested me.  You want the whole world to think that Terri 
London, Pulitzer-winning investigative journalist, was stripped 
butt naked and spread out like Miss July, before being carted 
off to work in some brothel."

"I didn't mean to imply...."

"You're just like that awful Joe Doe!  Don't you know that, 
according the terms of my parole...um...my release...um...my 
agreement with the Sheriff...whatever...that I'm prohibited 
from discussing what happened?  So that dreadful, so-called 
writer -- who doesn't have as much talent in his perverted 
head as I have in my little finger, by the way -- writes that 
awful story, implying that I was...was....

"Processed?"  Joxx suggested helpfully.

"See!  PROCESSED!  As if stripping a woman naked, and spreading 
her legs, and delousing her, with everyone watching, is somehow 
justified.  'Just drop your panties in the box, Ms. London...all 
part of the process.  Spread your legs for the delousing now...all 
part of the process.'  Men!"

"I thought you liked the pictures," Joxx said.

"Don't confuse the point!  I'm a two-time Pulitzer winner, and I 
could have you for breakfast if I wanted to -– you and your buddy, 
Joe.  You're as bad as he is...having that girl in your picture 
drop her panties into a box marked, "London, Terri."  I know what 
you're implying!"

"Did the Sheriff strip you, Terri?" Joxx asked.

"That's…not the point!  You have no right to even ask.  You're 
just like all the rest.  Laughing behind my back when I get on 
the elevator -– making fun of me!  I've fired a dozen interns 
at this paper for smiling at me, and don't think I can't fix 
your wagon, too.  Did you see how I made you wait on hold?  
I'm an important person!  I know Oprah!"

"Look, I really have to go now...," he said wearily.

"No, wait!  It seems the owner of the paper liked your pictures, 
too, and he wants to send me on another undercover assignment.  
He asked Joe Doe to forward you some ideas.  He wants you to draw 
a sketch to help him visualize the story."

"A picture of you...."

"No, not like that -– nothing explicit.  This is a family newspaper. 
If he likes the picture he might send me out...on the assignment."

"You mean...you'd be on another assignment?" Joxx asked eagerly.

"Yes...only you and Joe would decide what it was.  I think that 
rotten Joe...whatever his name...is sent you an e-mail.  Ah...here 
it is."

Terri's voice faltered slightly as she pulled up the e-mail and 
scanned the message.  "These assignments are wonderful...I mean 
awful.  They seem so...risky."

There was a sudden thud as Terri dropped the phone.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Terri said.  "I lost my grip because my other hand 
was...well....  I have to go now.  Let me put you on hold again.  
Goodbye."

The elevator music resumed as he hung up the phone and pulled up 
Joe's long e-mail:

Dear Joxx,

Thank you so much for the pictures.  I thought all three of them 
were wonderful, and I was awestruck by the fantastic job you did.  

NICE WORK!

I wanted to give you some ideas for future pictures that might (who 
knows?) lead to future stories, either from myself or from other 
authors.  

I'd like the pictures to be in the style of "One Question Too 
Many," in that the danger and nudity are suggested but not shown.  
I think in all the pictures Terri should be dressed to the nines, 
but placed in a situation where she may not remain that way for 
long.  If there are other women in the pictures, I think they 
should definitely be dressed, but feel free to make it clear 
that they, too, may not remain that way for long.

These are just ideas.  If you have others, or if you want to do 
a different picture in a different setting, that's cool.

As a matter of fact, if you don't want to do any pictures at all, 
that's fine, too.  The real purpose of this note was to bounce 
ideas back and forth in a playful way, and to compliment and 
thank you for your work -- not to hector you for more.

Possibilities --

TERRI VISITS THE ASYLUM: An investigation of the disappearance of 
several young heiresses and "troublesome" female whistle-blowers 
leads Terri to Darkly Asylum.  

As the sleazy Doctor Leer leads her on a tour, she passes a young 
woman in a crew cut.  Terri is dressed in her crisp business suit, 
but the young barefoot patient wears only her diaper and 
straitjacket.  Two large male orderlies lead her into a room 
marked, "ELECTROSHOCK."

Terri looks on in horror, and is especially disturbed by the 
contrast between the patient's attire and her own.  Why is the 
girl's hair so short?  Would they shave Terri's head, if she 
were a patient here?  She shudders at the thought.

Electroshock?  If she were a patient...surely they wouldn't...they 
couldn't....

The smiling doctor, oblivious to Terri's distress, points happily 
at the fully exposed examination table next to the nurses' station. 
His manner is happy and friendly, as if he were giving a tour of 
Disneyland.

A smiling nurse places a box on the exam table.  It bears Terri's 
name and a number....


TERRI AT THE COMPUTER CAMP: Natalie asks Terri to give a lecture 
at the computer camp on "Computers and Journalism."  During her 
visit, Natalie shows her the brightly lit shower room from "Shower 
Show."  They are both fully dressed, of course, but the women look 
nervous as they eye the ceiling-mounted fixtures, the concrete 
floor, and the open gang shower.

Perhaps the picture is from the point of view of a young man 
observing the two women through a crack in the wall.  Terri 
will be staying in the main house, of course, but if her 
plumbing "accidentally" malfunctions, she will be forced to 
shower here....


TERRI VISITS BOYS TOWN: Terri visits Boys Town to investigate a 
rumor that female tourists are being shanghaied and forced to 
work as prostitutes.  Terri, standing in the police station, 
discreetly compares a snapshot in her wallet to a woman in the 
cell.  In the photo, the woman is smiling and well-dressed.  
However, the woman in the cell is dressed as a prostitute.  She 
frowns and clutches the bars as she watches her latest pimp 
bail her out for the night. 

Terri is so engrossed in her discovery that she doesn't notice the 
police chief eyeing her lovely form as he snaps the stirrups of the 
exam table into place.  Meanwhile, another officer stealthily 
removes Terri's wallet from her purse....


TERRI'S SCHOOL VISIT: Terri sits in the Headmaster's office from 
"Back In School."  The headmaster leans back in his chair and 
leisurely flexes a school cane as a young woman in school uniform 
trembles before him.  The woman is in her early twenties, but her 
hair style and humble manner make her appear younger.  The young 
woman stands pigeon-toed, staring at her shoes, as she attempts 
to talk her way out of her inevitable punishment.


UNIVERSITY "HEALTH CRISIS": An outbreak of head lice at a school 
750 miles away gives a university president the excuse he needs 
to order strict new hygiene procedures.  He and Terri stand in the 
gym and watch as a line of young women, some students and some 
faculty, wait nervously in their towels.  The gym floor is so cold! 
At the end of line, two grinning fraternity boys fiddle with the 
delousing equipment, while the school's newspaper photographer 
adjusts his camera and lights.


THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR FANTASTIC PICTURES...
From Joe, Search'em, Lakewood, and everyone in the group.



Edited by C. Lakewood